also aqua-tint, 1782, "engraving made with aqua fortis," from Italian acquatinta, from Latin aqua tincta "dyed water;" see aqua- + tinct. The spaces are bitten, instead of the lines as in etching.
Entries linking to aquatint
aqua-
word-forming element meaning "water," from Latin aqua "water; the sea; rain," cognate with Proto-Germanic *akhwo (source of Old English ea "river," Gothic ahua "river, waters," Old Norse Ægir, name of the sea-god, Old English ieg "island"), from PIE root *akwa- "water."
tinct n.
"color, tint," c. 1600, from Latin tinctus "a dyeing," from tingere "to dye" (see tincture).
*akwa-
*akwā-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "water."
It forms all or part of: aqua; aqua-; aqua vitae; aqualung; aquamarine; aquanaut; aquarelle; aquarium; Aquarius; aquatic; aquatint; aqueduct; aqueous; aquifer; Aquitaine; eau; Evian; ewer; gouache; island; sewer (n.1) "conduit."
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit ap "water;" Hittite akwanzi "they drink;" Latin aqua "water, the sea, rain;" Lithuanian upė "a river;" Old English ea "river," Gothic ahua "river, waters." But Boutkan (2005) writes that only the Germanic and Latin words are sure, Old Irish ab is perhaps related, and "the rest of the evidence in Pokorny (1959) is uncertain."